course dates credits
String Theory I Feb 12 - Mar 29 6
teachers schedule term
11:30 - 12:45 2

Program:

This is a reading course on the first volume of Polchinski's book "String Theory".

  • The syllabus is the book index
    • A first look at Strings
    • Conformal Field Theory
    • The Polyakov path integral
    • The string spectrum
    • The string S-matrix
    • Tree-level amplitudes
    • One-loop amplitudes
    • Toroidal compactification and T-duality
    • (Higher order amplitudes)
  • The last Chapter is usually omitted.
  • The D-brane part is changed by reviewing the original Fradkin-Tseytlin derivation of the D-brane effective world-volume theory.
  • Some insertions to clarify BRST quantization are usually added.

      • Prerequisites:

      • Quantum mechanics
      • Quantum field theory
      • Group theory

      Books:

      • M.B.Green, J.H.Schwarz, E.Witten, "Superstring Theory", vol. I
      • J.Polchinski, "String Theory", vol. I, II
      • A.M. Polyakov "Gauge fields and Strings"
      • B. Zwiebach "A first course in string theory"
      • A. Bilal "Duality in N=2 SUSY SU(2) Yang-Mills Theory: A pedagogical introduction to the work of Seiberg and Witten" arXiv:hep-th/9601007

      Online Resources:

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